GAIL, HPCL to set up Rs 40,000 cr cracker unit at Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh

GMR Infra-owned Kakinada SEZ has signed MoU with GAIL and HPCL to provide 2,000 acres for the unit

Public sector oil and gas companies GAIL and HPCL together propose to set up a cracker unit at Kakinada on the east coast at an estimated investment of Rs 40,000 crore.

The proposal was in discussions for more than a year now with Andhra Pradesh government seeking these investments at Machilipatnam port closer to the upcoming capital city Amaravati.

At the cracking units, catalytic conversion processes are used to produce high-value petroleum byproducts.

Kakinada SEZ Limited (KSEZ), a subsidiary of GMR Infrastructure Limited, has signed a MoU with GAIL and HPCL to provide 2,000 acres of land for the proposed project during the Partnership Summit held in Visakhapatnam last week, GMR group said in a statement.

KSEZ is spread over 8,500 acres. In addition to the industrial zone, the GMR group is also developing an all-weather, multi-cargo, deep water port with an estimated phase-I capacity of 16 million tonnes.

SEZ is already operational and has units which employ nearly 1,000 people from the neighbouring villages, according to the company.